Church Music

A text written in the sixties by James Quinn SJ to a traditional Welsh tune, “Ar Hyd Y Nos” that I realised I had associated with the song “All Through the Night” after listening to the snippet at AOV.  The lyrics vary on the net varied somewhat so I stuck with the version in AOV. A nice version on organ can be heard here and a solo voice + church acoustics version here. Just for fun you can hear the tune with Welsh lyrics here.

A free arrangement for guitar is available here at Score Exchange arranged by Jim Nailon.

Verse 1

Day is done, but love unfailing
Dwells ever here;
Shadows fall, but hope, prevailing,
Calms every fear.
Loving Father, none forsaking,
Take our hearts, of Love’s own making,
Watch our sleeping, guard our waking,
Be always near.

Verse 2

Dark descends, but light unending
Shines through our night;
You are with us, ever lending
New strength to sight:
One in love, your truth confessing,
One in hope of heaven’s blessing,
May we see, in love’s possessing,
Love’s endless light!

Verse 3

Eyes will close, but you unsleeping
Watch by our side;
Death may come, in love’s safekeeping
Still we abide
God of love, all evil quelling,
Sin forgiving, fear dispelling,
Stay with us, our hearts indwelling,
This eventide.

Text © James Quinn SJ 1969.

A hymn from the nineteenth century I’d never heard of, by William Dix but usually sung to this tune by Rowland Pritchard. I’ve included the words in AOV, which are somewhat different to other sources of the hymn. I like this version’s delicacy considering the rather triumphalist text.

Alleluia! sing to Jesus!
His the scepter, his the throne.
Alleluia! His the triumph,
his the victory alone.
Hark! the songs of peaceful Zion
thunder like a mighty flood.
Jesus out of every nation
hath redeemed us by his blood.

Alleluia! King eternal,
thee the Lord of lords we own;
Alleluia! born of Mary,
earth thy footstool,
heaven thy throne.
Thou within the veil hast entered,
robed in flesh, our great High Priest.
Thou on earth both Priest and Victim
in the Eucharistic Feast.

Alleluia! Alleluia!

Glory be to God on high;

Alleluia, to he Saviour

Who has won the victory;

Alleluia to the Spirit,

Font of love and sanctity;

Alleluia! Alleluia

To the triune majesty

Another experiment with the church organ VST plugin:

Sy Miller and Jill Jackson wrote this in 1950s and you can read the story of the song’s great success here. A text with merit, the tune is one that I can’t take to despite many attempts and having played it an awful lot (ie someone around here must like it).

It can be purchased for download at OCP.

To hear it in its full saccharine arrangement try here. Marie Osmond does it here, Vince Gill here and a full orchestra and choir do it here. There are a lot of Youtube versions out there if you want to find out if any are acceptable – perhaps a children’s choir? Interestingly, it seems to be considered a Christmas song in America. I still don’t like it much.

We sing the inclusive text (“we are family”) and I point blank refuse to repeat it – so we sing it once through and go to the final ending.  My backing is the whole song though.

Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me;
Let there be peace on earth,
The peace that was meant to be.

With God as our Father
Brothers all are we, [We are family]
Let me walk with my brother [each other]
In perfect harmony.

Let peace begin with me,
Let this be the moment now;
With every step I take,
Let this be my solemn vow:

To take each moment and live each moment
In peace eternally.
Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me.

(Rpt entire song with different tune for the last line)

 

Alternate lyrics:

With God our Creator
Family all are we,
Let us walk with each other

In perfect harmony.

Or

With Earth as our Mother
Family all are we,
Let us walk with each other

In perfect harmony.

© Jan-Lee Music 1955, 1983.

A hymn from the seventeenth century by Martin Rickert and Johann Cruger and translated in the nineteenth century by Catherine Winkworth.

I’ve put a 2 beat pause after “voices” and rejoices”.

1.	Now thank we all our God, 
	with heart and hands and voices, 
	who wondrous things has done, 
	in whom this world rejoices; 
	who from our mothers' arms 
	has blessed us on our way 
	with countless gifts of love, 
	and still is ours today.

2.	O may this bounteous God 
	through all our life be near us, 
	with ever joyful hearts 
	and blessed peace to cheer us; 
	and keep us still in grace, 
	and guide us when perplexed; 
	and free us from all ills, 
	in this world and the next.

3.	All praise and thanks to God 
	the Father now be given; 
	the Son, and him who reigns 
	with them in highest heaven; 
	the one eternal God, 
	whom earth and heaven adore; 
	for thus it was, is now, 
	and shall be evermore.

Band in a Box 2012 arrived for Christmas.  I usually get the update because it is the most economical way to get the new backings and soloists and I just ignore all the new features I don’t use because that would require thought. One of the new features that I normally would have ignored is the ability to assign VST instruments to individual MIDI tracks. However, as I have whinged that church organ sounds awful in the DX synth native to BIAB, I wondered if a church organ VST existed. It does – here. So not knowing what I was doing really, I assigned the VST instrument to each of the 3 simple church organ tracks created in BIAB and it sounds pretty good.

I’m not sure I’ll use the VST sounds much, as I’m using BIAB as a quick sketchbook rather than aiming for a masterpiece, and it does make rendering to wave files more time consuming, but it certainly does make the church organ sound better.

This song by Carey Landry is one I don’t look forward to playing. The original can be heard here. There is nothing wrong with the text, but I suspect we sing it a bit too fast and it becomes harsh – that said I know it means a lot to many people. This church does it very quickly and I’m not sure it helps. Here it is a better tempo but it shows how it get can get rather sing-songy, although they manage harmonies and tempo variations with aplomb. I suspect this song is much harder to sing well than it appears at first glance and familiarity hasn’t helped.

It can be purchased for download at OCP.

We never get past verse 2, which is just as well as the tune varies in verses 3 & 4 and the music in AOV becomes very hard to follow in the truncated guitar version with verse 3 superimposed on verse 1 and verse 4 on 2.  If you really want to play the whole song you should look for music with each verse printed separately.

We sing it refrain/verse/refrain, but I note the music probably actually indicates refrain/verse/verse. My backing is how we do it, although I’ve slowed it down to a stated tempo and it seems less of a problem.

Refrain
We are companions on the journey,
Breaking bread and sharing life;
And in the love we bear is the hope we share
for we believe in the love of our God,
We believe in the love of our God.

Verse 1

No longer strangers to each other,
No longer strangers in God’s House;
We are fed and we are nourished
by the strength of those who care,
By the strength of those who care.

Refrain

Verse 2

We have been gifted each other,
And we are called by the Word of the Lord:
To act with justice, to love tenderly
And to walk humbly with our God,
To walk humbly with our God.

Refrain

Verse 3

We will seek and we shall find;
We will knock and the door will be opened;
We will ask and it shall be given
For we believe in the love of our God,
We believe in the love of our God.

Refrain

Verse 4

We are made for the glory of our God,
For service in the name of Jesus,
To walk side by side with hope in our Hearts,
For we believe in the love of our God,
We believe in the love of our God.

Refrain

© Carey Landry and NALR 1985.

This song by Peter Grant is called simply “Communion” at the AOV site where a taste of the song can be heard here. I blogged his “Mass for a Pilgrim People” here and he is an Australian liturgical musician whose work should be better known. I’m not sure why we haven’t used this piece, as a good Eucharist song is always in demand.

It can be purchased for download at As One Voice.

My backing is at 96 bpm.

Verse 1

We see bread and wine before us,

But hidden there from our view

Lies the flesh and blood of Jesus

Now sacrificed for us anew.

Refrain

Jesus, we bring to you our bodies.

Jesus, we bring to you our souls,

Needing nourishment, needing healing

Seeking peace.

Verse 2

On the night before he suffered

He took the bread into his hands,

Giving thanks and praise he broke it

Saying “Take and eat, this is my body.”

Refrain

Verse 3

And when supper was then ended

He took the wine, again gave thanks,

Saying “Take and drink of my cup,

This is my blood to be shed for you.”

Refrain

© Peter Grant

We use Donald Fishel’s Alleluia No. 1, but this one is new to me. The text has a general application beyond the obvious Easter vigil use. You can hear a piano + choir version here that is quite slow – the snippet at AOV is more up tempo. My backing is at 80 bpm.

Refrain
The light of Christ has come into the world
The light of Christ has come into the world

1. All men must be born again
to see the Kingdom of God
The water and the Spirit
bring new life in God’s love

Refrain

2. God gave up His only Son
out of love for the world
So that all men who believe
in Him will live forever

Refrain

3. The light of God has come to us
so that we might have salvation
From the darkness of our sins
we walk into glory with Christ Jesus

Refrain

© Donald Fishel 1974, 1982.

This song by Fr Kevin Bates is sung extremely frequently at our church – it is a reliable eucharist song that everyone knows and will sing. I doubt it is well known outside Australia but it probably should be.

The snippet at AOV reveals a very gentle guitar based folk song that you will have trouble matching with the assembly.  This is one of the songs at AOV that can be bought as a single download, which is handy if you don’t want the whole collection.

I also noted that the singer wasn’t following the music slavishly. This makes me feel a little better, because neither do we. The very pretty introduction has a bar of 2/4 before the verse commences – we have always ignored that and stayed in 3/4 the whole way. Also, the second verse has a change in the tune for “food for the journey” which we have steadfastly ignored for years. I did put it in my backing just to hear what it should sound like but I don’t think we can sing it that way now.

Verse 1

Take of my bread and eat, drink my new wine.
Take of my life and live, branch of my vine.

Let me befriend you now; eat take your fill.
Don’t be afraid to dream; love has its will.

Verse 2

Take up your burden now, walk ’til you find
Just what the journey means; walk while there’s time.

Food for the journey will answer your need.
Don’t be afraid to walk; love, my love will lead.

Verse 3

Take of my bread and eat, drink my new wine.
Be a sweet nourishment to good friends of mine.

Let me befriend you now; eat, take your fill.
Share with your people, that love has its will.

Verse 4

Take of my bread and eat, drink my new wine.
Take of my life and live, branch of my vine.

© Kevin Bates 1985.

A folk styling of Ps 100 from the sixties by Lucien Deiss.

In the AOV snippet 1 1/2 bars of 6/8 are added at the end of the refrain before the verses commence and so I’ve added that to my backing.  BIAB added an intro of 2 bars: A F#m, D E7sus.

The text is available here. (scroll down) It can be purchased for download from OCP.

More imposing music from Christopher Walker.  It is a setting of Ps 118 with a major Easter application.

It can be purchased for download at OCP.

A snippet at AOV hints at the organ, brass and massed voices that is the natural home of this song. A more modest, but nice, illustration of a more normal church experience can be heard here. The verses lend themselves to cantor/assembly, but the repetitions would survive being sung by all.

Refrain
This day was made by the Lord,
let us rejoice, let us be glad.
This day was made by the Lord,
let us rejoice in salvation!

Verse 1

I thank you, your love is eternal,
you have given me life.
You have given me life.
I will proclaim the wonders you do!

Refrain

Verse 2

Your hand raised me up in triumph,
you have given me life.
You have given me life.
I will proclaim the wonders you do!

Refrain

Verse 3

The stone which the builders rejected
is the cornerstone,
is the cornerstone.
I will proclaim the wonders you do!

Refrain

Verse 4

You opened the gates of heaven,
you have given me life.
You have given me life.
I will proclaim the wonders you do!

Refrain

Verse 5

You are my strength and my Savior,
you have given me life.
You have given me life.
I will proclaim the wonders you do!

Refrain

© Christopher Walker 1988,1989.

PS Merry Christmas

We played at mass last night and this morning with all our family home and able to sing together – are rarity these days. It good to hear all the voices raised in song.